Thalaba Posted June 2, 2010 Share Posted June 2, 2010 Ashes to Ashes also offers a very free-form system. Basically, you can preproduce any spell-like effect from any BRP game (including CoC and the various RQs) by comparing the practioner's magical ability against the power of the spell effect on the resistance table. Magical ability is not straight up POW, but is calculated using a number of factors. This means there is no restricting spell list, no spheres, no techniques, no skills, no manipulations - nothing. Just magical aptitude vs. the power of the magical effect. The various spell lists are used a a guideline to gauging power, but are not meant to restrict the effects a practitioner might come up with. I've never tried it, so I cant vouch for how well it works, but I thought it was an interesting way to handle freeform magic. Quote "Tell me what you found, not what you lost" Mesopotamian proverb __________________________________ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ayelin Posted June 3, 2010 Share Posted June 3, 2010 Hi everyone, Well, I had some very bad problems, and I've completely forgotten that ! I'll try to complete my post this week-end. Ayelin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samwise7 Posted June 3, 2010 Share Posted June 3, 2010 Check out Barbarians of Lemuria's freeform magic system and see if you can use that in a BRP game. It has a decidedly Sword & Sorcery feel, but I bet you could fenangle it to do what you want it to do. http://www.1km1kt.net/rpg/barbarians-of-lemuria or the pay version http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=58815 Quote "Everything important in RPGs happens the moment you stop holding onto the rulebook with both hands." -Jeff Rients http://samwise7.yolasite.com (Art, Blog, RPG Settings, YouTube, Etc.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ayelin Posted June 3, 2010 Share Posted June 3, 2010 Check out Barbarians of Lemuria's freeform magic system and see if you can use that in a BRP game. It has a decidedly Sword & Sorcery feel, but I bet you could fenangle it to do what you want it to do. http://www.1km1kt.net/rpg/barbarians-of-lemuria or the pay version http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=58815 Yes, I've bought the french translation a few months ago, and I'm thinking of reshaping my freeform system.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GianniVacca Posted June 3, 2010 Share Posted June 3, 2010 I missed this thread first time around but I have three suggestions to add to the list. The first is Loz's excellent system from Unknown East. It's kind of similar to my memories of the system in Ars Magica. It's very flexible and I've had good experiences with it. I did run a lengthy Arabian Nights-themed campaign using a homebrew BRP freeform magic system heavily based on Ars Magica's. It did work well but in the end the magic-user was always using the same formulae that he'd found would give him a good offensive edge. So the system I'd worked on for months basically ended up not better than a system where the magic-user may choose from a limited array of spells :-( Quote 「天朝大國」，https://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/92874/celestial-empire 很有意思: http://celestialempire.blogspot.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Questbird Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 (edited) The second is to borrow the Maelstrom system. It's composed of 5 levels of ritual magic. A first level spell would be something that could easily be chalked up to chance. A foe trips at an inopportune time. The sun hits someone's eyes wrong at a crucial moment. etc. Fifth level spells are spells that make the impossible possible. A fellow named Questbird put this system to good use in his Lankhmar game. That would be me. This is an old thread, but I'll just add to it anyway. The Maelstrom system has some nice features. 1. It's pretty simple. The mage says what effect they want to achieve, the GM assigns a difficulty based on how likely that event is to happen* at that particular time, the mage makes a check to see if it works. 2. It's situational. Because it's all based on likelihoods and probabilities, the mage can act to make his spells more likely to work. For example to make someone trip in combat, the spell might be Unlikely, but if the mage flings a barrel of marbles underfoot (or orders his underlings to do it), it might change to Likely. This encourages quick thinking and planning for the mage character. 3. It's subtle -- good for low magic or historical campaigns where you don't really know whether magic or witchcraft really works. This is not the only magic system I use in my campaign, but it's a good one. * as Chaot said, on a scale from Likely, Unlikely, Improbable, Wildly improbable, Impossible Edited February 12, 2011 by Questbird Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaot Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Ladies and gentlemen, if I may side track this thread for a second. Questbird's a real hepcat and I'm very glad to see him on the boards. Years ago we both posted in a friendly D20 Lankhmar yahoo forum as two tiny BRP voices. He may or may not remember me, but I was going under the handle of zeitgeistgeist or thesilverskin or something back then. Welcome to the boards, QB! Quote 70/420 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Questbird Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Thanks for the kind welcome, Chaot, I do remember you well. zeitgeistgeist it was. Now back to our regular transmission. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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